The effects of ion irradiation on porous silicon photoluminescence

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The effects of ion irradiation on porous Si (po-Si) photoluminescence (PL) are investigated to gain insight into the emission mechanism. Po-Si was obtained by standard electrochemical etching of p-doped Si(100) and the samples were aged for several weeks to achieve stability of the PL intensity. Specimens were progressively irradiated with H+, He+, or Ne++ ions followed by PL measurements. PL spectra were obtained as a function of the displacement per atom (DPA) parameter up to a DPA level of ∼10−2, which was sufficient to nearly extinguish PL. The quenching behavior showed a strong dependence on the chemical nature of the implanted species. Within experimental error, the quenching efficiency was equivalent for He+ and Ne++ irradiations, but was considerably higher for H+ irradiation. Channeling spectrometry showed the efficiency to be correlated with the self-recovery of defects generated during irradiation. The observed PL quenching is associated with the creation of nonradiative recombination sites within the band gap, but not with Si nanostructure amorphization and∕or surface oxygen removal. Significant recovery of quenched PL occurs over a period of 120days for specimens that are stored in air, but not for samples that are stored in vacuum. These results demonstrate the importance and complexity of surface oxidation on the po-Si luminescence mechanism.